Tuesday, October 14, 2014

The Glia Social Business EcoSystem Map

Seeding the Glia EcoSystem

Lead Guide and Orchestrator

Hello, my name is Gregory D Esau, your lead guide and orchestrator towards value creation in the Glia Social Business EcoSystem. The 'map' you see above, is our coarse grain macro-view of what our ecosystem will roughly look like. Over time, we will continually refine and define this map, your place in it. How to make it work for you, how we use it to help create value for yourself and our customer network. How we'll track and visualize different value flows that are essential to a healthy thriving eco-system, eventually giving us an entirely new way to "see" and value our socio-economic life and activities. Redefining how we create and distribute wealth in business and society.

The world needs an economic revolution, our collective drive, passion and mission is to lead and set the bar as to how economic life functions and flows. Now, and into the future.

The Seeds for Success

Thinking of a healthy social business ecosystem, such as the Glia design, as a garden is no mere metaphor. This visualization and the mind set that goes with it is critical to the success of the ecosystem. Even more so, is how we seed, nurture and grow a social business ecosystem, especially one designed to deliver a range of high value products and services to our customer network.

There are seven keystone 'species' needed that meshed together ensure the best chance for seeds of our success. It's important to note, that the success or failure of an ecosystem like Glia depends on all the species to understand one another, and pull together to grow the system, and find, develop and create the value and wealth inherent in such a system.

Investors

Investors can come from within the ranks of the keystone species, indeed, it's vital those that commit to the system are investor/stakeholders. It cannot be stated enough the design of the Glia system depends on the distributed ownership of the system.

Investment can also come from outside the system.

These two basic categories can be thought of as vested investors, and passive investors.

The vested investors, believe passionately in what we're working to build together, and therefore also invest time and expertise in understanding the system so as to best contribute.

The passive investors will be those that believe in our economic philosophy, but for reasons unique to each, can't contribute currently as builders and developers.

Knowledge and Intellectual Capital

In the many years I have been pulling together the knowledge for developing the Glia EcoSystem two things have impressed me. How many different knowledge pieces to this puzzle that exit, and the different ways they can be combined to create unique value. Very much like a brain and mind, the more knowledge nodes in the system, the more expansive it's capabilities. Especially when we combine Social and Business, and within the context of increasing scales of customization.

Like every species in the system, Glia cannot thrive without a healthy network of knowledge nodes in it's brain!

As we further our understanding of the system, we will continually break this down into contextually specific types of knowledge, expertise, etc

Builders and Developers

The design for the Glia EcoSystem as it scales will require a robust platform and network that can serve both the social world and business world. Of critical importance to the system and our mission, we as a whole need to own this platform and network. In the lessons learned from the new social network, Ello, there's a strong market for a network that differentiates itself from those that are ad supported or "free" for the right to user data. There's also a strong reaction as to how it's financed, with a lot of healthy skepticism towards venture capital.

For Glia, we must have ownership over our data, our platforms, and network.

Attracting the talent to such a model and system as Glia is critical, as we'll need to find that sweet spot between open source and more closed corporate model.

Talent Market

All businesses need talent to function. The old industrial model and concepts of "labour" and "management" break down in the needs of business and society in the 21st Century. One of the biggest shifts Glia will create is changing the perception, relationship and functionality of talent pool and the needs of business and society, In very short, a healthy thriving social business ecosystem needs a healthy, thriving talent market.

Business--Products and Services

A look at the map gives us some idea of the types of businesses we want to attract into our system. Our long-term goal is to provide everything the value-centric consumer needs from cradle to grave. Our philosophy helps further refine what kind of businesses we want to cultivate--we do not compete on price. Competing on price is a losers game. This commoditization of labour and product, where ruthless cutting of costs towards the "lowest price" is the only way to "win" has been devastating for business and society. This principle is the most fundamental reason for the mass transfer of wealth over the last 30-40 years. This competing on price destroys and corrupts the soul of society, and business. The practice will no doubt persist, but not within the Glia EcoSystem.

Our Consumers

Our reason for being. The social in social-business. In speaking to our consumers, how successful Glia can be in being a thriving ecosystem, how well we can reshape our socio-economic future depends on enough consumers who understand the need for shopping on value, and not on price.

The Orchestrators

These are the master synthesis masters who can "read" the system, connect the dots among business, talent, technology and talent in unique ways to create unique value between business and consumer.

Context

Evidence continues to mount that the old business models and old organizational models are too static, too inflexible and too tied to an outdated economic business philosophy to keep up with the needs of society, Such trends as artificial intelligent automation, Bitcoin/blockchain technology, the internet of things, 3D printing, institute stagnation, cloud technologies, distorted wealth creation and distribution, social networked media and even the specter of a 'jobless' future are not indicative that these old industrial models are up to the needs of business and society moving forward.

Seeing our economies as ecosystems, creating the ways to measure the value flows in our economic systems, values beyond the simplistic measures of profit and productivity, of GDP, so we have the visual maps so as all of us can see the health of the system, and understand what makes a healthy system, a healthy society. Where the needs of society and business are in synch, and one feeds the other. Where we all value all of the keystone species in the system, where we all learn how to be gardeners in the system.

I also need to mention "innovation" at this point. Innovation isn't a strategy, it isn't a department, it even isn't "cross functional teams" (although that is a step in the right direction!). You can't "plan" innovation. It's often "seeing" what others can't see. It's serendipity.

Glia as a platform, combined with how we'll use visual social graphics to see the network, is designed to foster the environments where innovation can occur.

Separately, we can likely continue on the path we're on. But when we have all the tools, all the knowledge, all the technology, and most importantly, the need for revolutionary change, why would we choose to stay on the wrong path?

Using our media, our social media and networks, we can work to bring together all the necessary "species" to populate and grow the Glia Social Business EcoSystem. Not quite "crowdsourced", but what I call "SmartSwarms". Those of us who have a vested interest in growing the system, and enough of an understanding to find what we need, to qualify what we need, the pioneers we need to grow. And to understand we all win in the process.

Seeding Cities

Unquestionably, this is a big shift. It's important to connect this to community, and the business communities. To give us the best chance of success, seeding Glia in cities is the best way to make this happen.

As a resident in beautiful Vancouver B.C. Canada, this is one city we'll seed. Which other cities we'll seed will be dependent on finding the Core Nucleus of Orchestrators for any one particular city.

This also highlights how we can take knowledge and know how that is globally distributed, and apply it in physical communities. The map we see above can both be a global representation of Glia EcoSystem, and can also be overlayed any one particular city.

What is Next?

As Lead Guide and Chief Orchestrator, it is my job to attract and connect this to people and businesses that fit into the above species categories. Social media and our social networks will be our main conduit for the macro system. Google Plus and it's Hang On Air broadcasting (in conjunction with YouTube) abilities allows an amazing ability to connect this to people worldwide, and my own back yard.

Likewise, for the training and orientation for how to grow and thrive on the Glia System, this capability will be invaluable to giving the pioneers the best possible odds of success, and also for connecting with our customer base.